Preservation of Cultural Heritage at the Alamo: A Collaboration between Archaeology and Conservation

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Archaeology and conservation might appear to be contradictory disciplines. Archaeological methods are inherently destructive, and conservation strives to prevent loss. However, at some historic sites archaeology and conservation collaborate as integral partners to preserve the physical structures and cultural heritage, as well as recovering new data through archaeological investigations. This is true at the historic Alamo in San Antonio, Texas, which began as a Spanish mission in the eighteenth century and served many purposes over the past 300 years. Over the years, the original mission structures and venues intimately tied to Texas history have experienced extreme weathering and deterioration. Additionally, the surrounding urban landscape has grown around, and over, the historic footprint. This unique situation creates opportunities for archaeological investigations to support conservation work at the site. As the conservation team designs solutions to preserve the historic structures of the site, they must collaborate with archaeologists in order to protect buried cultural resources. Projects begin with archaeology in a supporting role but quickly morph into the recovery of critical archaeological data. This paper will discuss how recent investigations at the Alamo demonstrate the necessary and impactful collaboration of archaeology and conservation, with a shared goal of cultural preservation.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 40198.0